‘Hot desking’ – the practice of sharing one desk between multiple people working at different times – first emerged in the early 1990s promising to change the way we work forever. Seized upon by companies as a means of cutting floor space and overheads, it briefly threatened to overturn traditional office culture by eschewing established concepts like fixed personal desks and individual offices for a more communal, efficiency-based approached.
Image courtesy of Edinburgh Inspiring Capital
Unfortunately, heavy-handed and sometimes haphazard implementation by major corporations and the erosion of personal space meant that early incarnations of hot desking were deeply unpopular with workers and as the decade progressed the practice gradually fell out of favour. While desk sharing continued undisturbed in certain specialised fields – media newsrooms and the like – most companies returned to more traditional office setups.
The last ten years, however, have seen unprecedented changes in the dynamics and culture of the workplace. Ubiquitous high-speed broadband and wireless networking have finally made working remotely a viable option for many people, leading to the emergence of a new breed of highly mobile, flexible and tech-savvy professionals able to get down to business anywhere with an internet connection.
The rise of the remote worker has seen hot desking and hotelling (a variant allowing certain workspaces to be reserved in advance rather than operating on a strictly first-come-first served basis) return in a new guise. Today an increasing number of companies and not-for-profit organisations offer affordable and flexible shared office space to freelancers, entrepreneurs, small companies and the general public. Remote workers have access to all the facilities of a dedicated office premises and a great community of inspiring creatives to interact with but for a fraction of the expense and commitment of renting a permanent workplace.
Image courtesy of Edinburgh Inspiring Capital
In Edinburgh, The Melting Pot on Rose Street has been at the forefront of the current hot desking boom since it opened in 2007. It is a social enterprise run on a not-for-profit basis by founder Claire Carpenter and a team of dedicated staff and volunteers offering talented individuals and socially-conscious entrepreneurs the support and resources that remote workers and the self-employed often lack.
As well as desk space, The Melting Pot offers access to printing facilities, meeting rooms, receptionists, telephone services and more. Membership packages are extremely flexible and a limited number of Assisted Places are available from time to time through various schemes funded by the Scottish Government.
Elsewhere in Edinburgh, a number of national office space companies offer hot desk facilities but the prices seem to be geared more at the corporate level rather than keeping individuals and small enterprises in mind. Business incubator schemes at the University of Edinburgh also provide access to hot desks but these are open to members only.
